After viewing "Get Smart," I understand why 80 percent of women in the developed world cite the following as the top problem in their personal lives: they'd like to change their jobs and start over, but they don't exactly know what to do. Call off the dogs: What most of us want to do, in the innermost recesses of our souls, is to become a secret agent.

To those who dismiss such dreams with a derisive snort, I beg you to watch "Get Smart" — even if you do not continue reading this review. Forget slaving away for a law degree or an MBA. Ditch the idea of becoming an executive vice president at some dot-com operation. Oh, to be someone like Agent 99 (played by the extremely likable Anne Hathaway), the sizzling-hot espionage babe who can sport white-rimmed Chanel sunglasses as if she was born wearing them; who trots the globe toting one tiny hold-all but appears for parties decked out like a Bond Girl in sequined evening dresses and bobbed wigs; who can kick ass without batting either of her wondrously madeup eyelids, in said wig and dress. And before I forget, she can run a mile in four minutes and 30 seconds, and that's on a bad day.

Agent 99 has an admirer, though not the kind you'd expect. It's nerd extraordinaire Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) who worships her and yet tries to compete with her in the manner of a high-school basketball rookie trying to take on Michael Jordan. Not that Max isn't an espionage gem on his own terms: He speaks 40 different languages and only needs to hear snippets of scratchy, clandestine conversation to come out with an 150-page report. But all he really wants to do is switch off his PC and do like 99. So when a hard-won promotion to spy status is followed by a partnership with his chosen mentor, Max is orgasmic. Agent 99? She's less than exhilarated.